


Wild Shores

by Burning_Nightingale, LadyOfLondon, PorcelainPrimadonna



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Character Death, F/M, Fictional Religion & Theology, Leadership, M/M, Multiple Pairings, Natural Disasters, Opposites Attract, Pirates, Power Dynamics, Slow Build, Survival, Violence, odd couple
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-03
Updated: 2014-01-28
Packaged: 2018-01-07 08:51:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1117939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burning_Nightingale/pseuds/Burning_Nightingale, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyOfLondon/pseuds/LadyOfLondon, https://archiveofourown.org/users/PorcelainPrimadonna/pseuds/PorcelainPrimadonna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world didn't end in fire or ice, but in water. Rising sea levels have swallowed countries and killed millions. Now, one hundred years after the end of the world, the survivors try to scrape a living on the small islands of land left to them.</p><p>Natalia, Katya and their family escape death by striking out across the sea, but only half of them survive to land at the tiny village of New Haven. Accepted into the community, they learn to survive and make a life for themselves in their new world.</p><p>Through happiness and tragedy, and with the ever-present threat of pirate raids looming, life in New Haven is often as tempestuous as the sea that crashes against the cliffs below.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the start of what I hope will be quite a long fic. Lots of planning has been done, and perhaps half of a second chapter has been written? Hopefully posting this here will give me actual incentive to work more on this fic xD 
> 
> Many thanks and glorious salutations to my darling partner-in-crime, Jo, who is listed as a co-author because she and I came up with and planned out this fic together. Couldn't have done it without ya ;)

Natalia had spent several weeks staring at the same sea, the same sky, the same boat. The only things that changed were the clouds, though they only seemed to come in grey, just varying different shades and occasionally different shapes. It had a numbing effect on her mind; she would just stand for hours, looking out to the distant horizon. Nothing ever changed. Nothing moved but the constant restless motion of the waves.

It wasn’t like she had much else to do, though. Toris had insisted that he should steer the boat, though his insistence on eating next to nothing at all had weakened him considerably. Natalia only hoped he wouldn’t end up like Ivan-

 _No_ , she thought, and pushed away the image that came with her brother’s name. Or tried to; the scene came to her mind anyway, clear as the day she’d seen it. It had taken all five of them to heft Ivan’s limp body over the railing, even as thin as he’d become by then. Raivis’ face had been streaked with tears and strained with the effort of using only one arm, his other being wounded. Katya had been sobbing the whole time, but Natalia had kept her expression blank and emotionless. Ivan had given his life to save them; he’d made the choice to go without, to die from starvation so they wouldn’t have to share their limited food between all of them. She’d honour his sacrifice by staying alive, and that didn’t require tears.

She was right about Toris, though; he followed Ivan into the water a few days afterward, but this time it only took her and Katya to lift him over the side. Raivis watched, crying quietly, from the middle of the deck, but Eduard was too sick to leave his bed. He tossed and turned with fever, crying aloud and sweating out all the water they could give him, which was precious little in the first place. When he started puking up his food, Natalia could feel her own stomach drop. She’d never been a superstitious woman, but she could almost feel the presence of Death hanging over Eduard, beckoning him with one skeletal finger.

She wondered if she had the gift of foresight as they hefted Eduard over the railing two days later. Raivis wasn’t crying this time; he just watched with blank eyes as his second brother’s body disappeared quickly into the dark water.

They all knew the survival stories. They could’ve used Eduard, Toris, Ivan. They needed the food. But not one of them mentioned it, and Natalia thought to herself that she’d rather die with principles intact than survive because she’d sunk low enough to eat human flesh.

Even when her belly cramped and felt like it was on fire, she held onto her resolve. Even when her hands trembled so much it was hard to hold onto the wheel, she kept that principle firm in her mind.  _Better to die with honour_. Anyway, she’d made her choice. There was no way to go back now.

Katya appeared at the door of the small wheelhouse. “You should let me steer for a while,” she said quietly, not making an move forward. “It would give you time for some rest.”

Natalia just shook her head. Katya sighed. “Nat, Ivan and the others…they didn’t want you to follow them.”

“I know,” she said quietly.

“What will we do if you die too?”

 _At this point, you may as well say_ when  _I die_ , Natalia thought to herself, but she said aloud, “We won’t die. I’m going to make sure of that.”

Katya didn’t say anything else, but Natalia could almost feel the waves of worry radiating off her sister. She ignored it. Katya could worry; she had to be hard, strong, unyielding. She had to get them through this.

They were down to three packets of hard biscuits and two gallons of stale water. “A biscuit in the morning and a biscuit at night, I’ve decided,” Katya said, handing Natalia her nightly biscuit. She still hadn’t moved from the wheelhouse; she scanned the horizon obsessively, murmuring a prayer to herself under her breath. She wasn’t particularly religious, but the words reminded her of home, of her mother and father, warm happy times she barely remembered. They reminded her of Ivan, too, but she tried her hardest not to think about him.

“What about the water?” she said softly, taking the biscuit. She wanted to be strong, refuse, give up food like the others had done, but Ivan’s pale face floated in her mind, sinking down into the dark water, and she took a slow, small bite.

“One cup a night,” Katya said, shrugging. “It’s the best I can think of.”

Natalia just nodded. “And how is Raivis?”

“Surviving, for the moment. None of us are showing signs of Eduard’s disease, may he rest in peace, poor thing. The antiseptic seems to have worked, so I don’t think Raivis’ arm wound will become infected, but only time will tell.”

 _If he has enough time,_  Natalia thought. “Thank you. For looking after him.”

Katya gave a small, sad laugh. “It was my job, you know.”

“You were the best nurse they had,” Natalia said firmly.

Katya shook her head, but she said nothing else.

They were down to two packets of biscuits and one and a half gallons of water.

Raivis was sitting next to her today as she steered the boat. They sat in silence for a long while, both staring around in each direction, both looking for the same thing. They hadn’t seen land for two months, but the hope was there. Neither of them had quite given up hope yet.

After a while, Raivis asked quietly, “If you don’t know which way land is, Natalia, why do you have to steer?”

Natalia was quiet for a moment. “I don’t have to steer,” she said finally. “I just have to watch out for things. Storms. Rocks. Other ships. Sea monsters.”

“Have you seen any?”

“Not one.”

They returned to silence.

They were down to one packet of biscuits and a little less than a full gallon of water when Katya said they should only have one biscuit a day. When they got down to half a packet they had half a biscuit. Natalia’s stomach ached and ached and her hands never seemed to stop shaking. She found Katya sitting in the galley one evening, crying softly into her hands. She didn’t say anything, just sat down next to her and put an arm around her shoulders. They stayed there a long while.  _Raivis is watching in the wheelhouse,_ Natalia thought to herself,  _And I should cherish time with Katya while I still can. Not like I ever did when I had the time._

“Even if we only eat half a biscuit each day, we’ll be out of food within ten days,” Katya said late one night. She was sitting on the floor with Raivis’ head in her lap. He was sleeping soundly while Katya looked up at Natalia, her eyes full of concern. Natalia stood, shakily as a new-born deer, clutching the wheel for support, and stared out at the ocean. They seemed to live in the wheelhouse now, even if it was smaller and colder than below decks. If they had all taken turns on watch they would have been sure not to miss anything and they could have taken turns sleeping below deck, but the sense that time was short hung over all of them. These were quite probably the last days they were going to spend with each other, and they might as well spend that time together.

“We’ll find land before then,” Natalia said. Her voice didn’t sound confident anymore; more like she was repeating something learned by heart, something she’d said over and over until the words had lost their meaning. She didn’t care. It was the only thing she had to hold onto.

Raivis seemed to be getting worse. He shook with cold almost all the time, and his wound had stopped healing. “It will fester and become infected very soon,” Katya said, her voice almost apathetic. Natalia knew what she was thinking; it wouldn’t matter if Raivis’ wound became infected. In fact, it might let him die a quicker death than them.

They had run out of food, and had barely more than three cups worth of water left. Katya had brought the canister up from below deck and placed it on the floor of the wheelhouse. She moved from her spot on the floor down to sit by Raivis’ bed periodically, and then she would come back. For now she sat and stared at the canister, and for a while Natalia stared at it too.

“We’re going to die, aren’t we,” Katya said quietly.

Natalia didn’t answer her.

Later, after Katya had been down by Raivis’ bedside for a long while, she returned to the wheelhouse. “Sleep,” she said, and Natalia obeyed her, stretching out on the floor. It no longer even felt uncomfortable to her.

Katya watched through the long hours of the night, staring straight ahead. There was nothing but the waves, their tops burnished silver tonight in the fickle light of a weak moon. Her mind was empty.

Natalia woke up when the first light of a pink dawn was painting the horizon, and Katya went to sleep. Natalia went down to check on Raivis, who slept fitfully, shivering. The wound on his arm was dark, the bandages crusted black. She looked down at him for a while before going back up on deck.

She stared out over the ocean, over the waves, and thought about what a stupid idea this had all been. Leaving the settlement. Leaving for this, for this nothing. They had had to leave, or so they thought at the time. It had seemed so urgent then.

It was such a subtle change, it took her a long time to notice it. When she finally became aware of it, she stared at it blankly for a long time, not truly able to process what she was seeing. She might have stared for an hour or more, trying to comprehend what she was seeing.

Then she leant down and shook Katya awake, whispering, “Kat, Kat, look, look at the horizon.”

Katya dragged herself weakly to her feet and leant against the wheel, staring out. “I don’t see anything,” she said softly.

“There.” Natalia pointed. “Right there.”

They stared together for a long while. Just stood, staring. Then Katya made a hushed noise of amazement. “It’s real,” she whispered, “It’s real, it’s there, it’s just…right there.”

Natalia nodded, then moved over. Katya sat on the small captain’s chair while Natalia took her stance at the wheel and swung it around to the right.

Towards land.

After the land mass had steadily increased on the horizon for most of the day, becoming a huge shore of darkly wooded hills and coastline, Katya said quietly, “How are we going to land?”

“We look for a cove,” Natalia said.

“What if there isn’t one?”

“There will be. There always is.”

Before they had been relying on the power of their large sail, which had propelled them forwards slowly, and mercifully had not broken. But as they came within half a mile of the shore Natalia went below decks, clutching the rails and stumbling the whole way, and bent in a half crouch made her way to the tiny engine room. The old mechanism took fifteen tries to start, and Natalia was almost ready to give up in despair; but on the fifteenth turn of the key the old engine coughed into life, pungent fumes spilling from it, and the floor shuddered under her feet as the propeller began to turn.

She allowed herself a smile. They had used the sail the whole way, conserving the engine’s fuel for this moment, when they would need greater control to come into land. Now they were going to do it.

She remembered Ivan’s face as he had stood in the same position she’d just been standing in, smiling softly as he’d leant down to turn the engine off. “When we find land, we’ll turn it back on,” he’d said, rubbing his hands with a cloth to clean off the grease, “And then we’ll be able to land safely.”

The memory was like a knife in her heart, but she welcomed it this time. She was going to survive. Her brother’s sacrifice had not been in vain.

Katya was holding the wheel steady when she returned to the wheelhouse. “I didn’t think it would still work,” she said, a soft, tentative smile on her face.

“It almost didn’t,” Natalia said quietly as they swapped places. “How’s Raivis?”

“I found him an extra blanket, which helped. I gave him all the water, too. Hopefully we’ll be able to find more when we land.”

Natalia almost laughed. “Look at all that greenery, Kat. There’s water somewhere, no doubt of that.”

She turned the boat and they chugged along the coast, looking for a cove or a bay. The cliffs were high and jagged most of the time, but they bent and curved in places as if they wanted to come down into an opening. Natalia only hoped they found one before their fuel ran out.

They were in luck. They saw a tiny cove with a thin mouth leading to it, and wavered before deciding it was too dangerous. Then they came upon a much wider cove that could even have merited being called a bay, and Natalia turned the boat in.

“How do we get off?” Katya said, as if realizing the problem for the first time.

“Just drive it up as far as we can onto the shore and jump.”

“None us will be able to swim in our condition, Nat,” Katya said worriedly.

Natalia reached out and hit the throttle. The engine whined and the floor shook, and the boat began to gain speed. “If I go fast enough, we’ll get a decent way up the beach before we run aground,” Natalia said.

Katya clutched the edge of the navigation panel. “Natalia, I don’t think that will work, you-”

The boat engine began to make coughing, spluttering sounds, and Natalia eased off on the throttle. “Doesn’t like that,” she murmured. They slowed, but they were still coming in fast. “This might be bumpy,” Natalia said, gripping the wheel.

“Might be,” Katya said sarcastically, and then they were both almost thrown off their feet as the hull hit the shore.

Their momentum carried them forward a little ways, scraping and shrieking sounds coming from the metal under their feet, until they came to a stop perhaps ten metres from where the surf was breaking, the boat tilting to one side slightly as it came to rest. Katya and Natalia stood still for a few moments, clutching their respective handholds, too dazed to move. The engine had cut out.

Then Natalia stood straighter, her feet feeling unsteady with the new angle of the floor, and looked out of the window. They weren’t far from the shore, and the surf wasn’t too high. They could make that.

They’d have to make that.

“We should go and check below,” Katya said from behind her, “I didn’t like the sound of all that metal screeching.”

Natalia nodded. It was obvious before she even got to the bottom of the ladder that something was wrong, mainly from the pool of water that had already engulfed the bottom step. “We’re taking on water,” she said tersely, jumping down into it. It was cold as ice and she gasped a little, but then she moved forward. “Come on, we have to get Raivis out of here.”

The rent in the hull obviously in the small storage area in the bow of the ship; the water was gushing in from under the door. Raivis was leaning out of his bed and watching it worriedly. “I was almost thrown out of bed and then I heard scraping noises,” he said, turning to look up at them. “Did we make land?”

“In a sense.” Natalia opened one of the tiny cupboards and picked out Raivis’ boots and a large coat that had once been Toris’. “Time to go, kiddo.”

Raivis nodded determinedly, and Natalia gave his boots to Katya so she could help him lace them up. She took out two more coats; the one that had belonged to Eduard for Katya, and Ivan’s old coat for herself. She pulled it on and then waited while Katya supported Raivis as he got up and helped him with the heavy coat. When it was done she held out the coat. Katya took it without comment.

Raivis leant on Katya the whole way up the stairs, but his legs were stronger than Natalia had thought, and he seemed to handle the climb up to the deck alright. Katya and Raivis walked to the edge of the deck and stood clutching the railings, looking down into the sea. Their faces were nervous, but determined.

Natalia was about to join them, but then she remembered something. “There are life jackets,” she said softly, “And a life ring. Down in the storage area.”

Katya turned back to her with a worried expression. “Nat, the storage area is flooded…”

“They were on the top shelf. And I’m going to be wet anyway, soon.”

Katya nodded reluctantly and Natalia stepped carefully back down the ladder and into the combined sleeping area and galley. The water was around her mid-calf now. She waded over to the door and pulled down on the handle, leaning back to use her weight to wrench it open.

More water gushed over her as the door swung open, drenching her up to the mid-thigh. She could see the gash in the hull; it was at about waist height, and with every wave more water came through. It was so cold her teeth were chattering. She went grimly on; she could see the brightly coloured jackets on the top shelf. She reached up and grabbed three, then looked for the life ring, but she couldn’t see it.  _This will have to do._ She made her way out and back on deck, the water rising around her all the time.

Katya breathed an audible sigh of relief when Natalia reappeared. “How bad is it?” she asked as Natalia handed her a life jacket.

“The hull’s pretty bust,” she said, holding her life jacket and Raivis’ while Katya strapped hers on. “We’d better hope we can make a living here, because we won’t be going anywhere else in this old thing.”

Katya finished with her life jacket and held out her hand for Raivis’. Natalia strapped hers on as Katya helped him into his. When they were ready, Natalia said they should go to the front of the boat. “Less distance,” she said. They looked down into the water for a while, hesitating, until she said firmly, “I’ll go first.”

She climbed over the rails and stood on the other side, clutching the cold metal. The sea looked menacing and uninviting below, a creature waiting to swallow her. “Keep kicking and at all costs keep your head above water,” she advised, and then before her courage could fail her, she jumped.

She hit the water hard, and it almost sucked the air from her lungs with the cold. She could feel the life jacket pulling her towards the surface, and she kicked as hard as she could, trying to pull herself through the water with her arms as well. It seemed like an age and her lungs were on fire, but eventually she broke the surface. She heard Katya call her name, but she didn’t have the breath to call that she was fine. She managed to raise an arm above her head and wave, then she turned towards shore and struck out with her legs. The surf was higher than it had looked from the boat, but she managed to swim far enough that she could touch her feet to the bottom in the troughs between waves. She heard a splash behind her, but she couldn’t afford to turn. She kept on pushing doggedly until she could just about stand even with the waves, and then turned around.

Neither Raivis nor Katya were on the boat. Her heart constricted for a moment, but then she saw their heads pop up over a wave, close together with Katya supporting Raivis as they came closer to shore. She stayed in the shallows, barely able to keep her feet with the waves, while Katya made her way determinedly to the shore. When she was close enough to shout, she yelled, “Get to the beach!” but Natalia waited until they got to her and she could hold Raivis’ other arm as they got out.

They staggered up the beach, tired to the very bone. Natalia’s legs were shaking under her, her hands were shaking, everything was shaking. She was so  _cold_. They managed to get a few metres up the beach before they fell, exhausted, onto the sand, all side by side. They lay there, unmoving, for what seemed like hours. “We did it,” Raivis whispered softly, “We actually did it.”

They stayed there for a little while longer before Natalia heard something else over the crash of the waves and the calling of gulls. It took her a moment to work out what it was, but when she did her insides twisted with fear. Boots, crunching across the shingle towards them. She tried to get up but her strength finally failed her, and all she could do was lie prone on the sand as the footsteps came closer.

She felt Katya reach out for her hand, and she took it and gripped it hard.

A face appeared above them, peering down. It was a woman with long, dark brown hair, dressed in a heavy dark green jacket. A strap over her shoulder probably supported a rifle of some kind. Her expression was curious and, to Natalia’s relief, sympathetic. “They’re half dead, Al,” she said, turning to look at someone behind her.

“I can see that,” a disembodied voice said, the accent thickly Scottish. Another face appeared above her, a man’s this time, with wild red hair and a hard look to his face. He stared down at her, looking unimpressed. “They look like they’re at death’s door.”

The woman moved away, and Natalia heard her say, “This one’s wounded. Gunshot, looks like.”

Natalia stared up at the man, and he stared back down at her. “Gunshot,” he muttered under his breath. “Trouble following you?”

Natalia opened her mouth to try to speak, but only a croak came out. She’d swallowed some sea water and her throat was burning.

“We have to take them back to New Haven, Al,” the woman’s voice said.

“How do we know we can trust them?” the man, Al, said.

“They’re half-drowned, I don’t think they’ll be a threat.”

“You never know.” Al looked up, out to sea. He was probably looking at the boat. Then he sighed. “Come on, then. We can’t leave them here.” He disappeared and Natalia heard him yelling, “Gil! Gilbert! Get your lazy ass down here! We’ve got injured!”

The woman appeared again in Natalia’s view. “Don’t worry,” she said, smiling, “We’re going to take you somewhere safe.”

Natalia managed a nod, and then her eyes slipped closed. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just over four weeks since this last updated, and that's shamefully pretty good going for me xD More of this story has been firmed up, though, so progress might be swifter in the long run. For now, enjoy :D

Katya had managed to keep conscious for nearly the whole ride back to the village, looking from side to side into the thick forest as she had been carried on a stretcher. She had felt the darkness trying to close in, but she had been able to beat it off for a while, right up until they were nearly there. She had slipped into unconsciousness with the sound of Liz’s voice – she was the dark haired woman who had inspected Raivis’ wound on the beach – calling out to someone fading slowly into the background.

She had woken again to a small room not dissimilar to those she had lived in before; old plastered walls with faded cream paint, windows with broken panes that had been boarded up with wood in some places but still held precious double glazing in others, a ceiling with a light fitting where a bulb had once hung, now useless without electricity. The remains of an old house, built years and years ago before the Flood.

She looked from side to side and saw Natalia and Raivis, both stretched out and breathing deeply. They seemed in good condition, from what she could see, and she relaxed just a little bit.  

“You’re awake?” a voice asked from across the room.

Katya made a grunting noise, and tried to lean her head up as someone moved into view. It was another woman, with short blonde hair that just brushed her shoulders and bright, striking green eyes. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

Katya thought about it. “Hungry.”

The other woman smiled. “I’ll have to start you off small, but you will need some food.”

“Non-solids,” Katya said, “Best thing.”

The woman blinked. “Do you have medical training?”

“Some.” Katya attempted to get up onto her elbows, but she felt too weak. “I was a nurse, of sorts.”

“Well you’ll be useful,” the woman nodded. “Since I’m the only person even resembling a doctor or a nurse around here.”

“I’ll be glad to be of service,” Katya said, giving up on her attempt to sit up.

“I’ll get you some food,” the woman said, moving away. She came back with some form of mushed vegetable that Katya forced down, and then disappeared to clean the bowl.

Katya felt herself slipping back down into sleep, the darkness coming up to meet her. She wanted the woman to come back; she realized she hadn’t even got her name. But when her eyes flickered closed, she slept.

When she woke again it was to voices, hushed and on the other side of the room. She blinked open her eyes and stared at the ceiling, at the useless light fitting. The voices were too quiet for her to overhear. Eventually they stopped, and she heard the noise of a door opening and closing. She waited, and the woman she had seen before stepped up to her bedside. She looked surprised to see Katya awake. “How do you feel?” was the first question out of her mouth.

“A little better,” Katya said. “Still hungry.”

“I’ve got some mushed green beans,” the other woman said.

“Sounds great.” When she moved out of Katya’s line of vision, she remembered to ask, “I’m sorry, you didn’t tell me your name.”

“Oh.” The woman’s voice floated to her from across the room. “It’s Sofia.”

_Sofia_. Katya nodded to herself, and Sofia soon returned with a tray of beans. “Do you feel strong enough to sit up?” she asked.

It took a few tries, but Katya got there. She leant back on the large pile of pillows that someone had put behind her, and accepted a small bowl and spoon from Sofia’s hands. “Very comfortable,” she said as she began tucking into the small meal, motioning at the pillows behind her.

“Luckily for us you’re the only patients right now, so that means you get all the comforts,” Sofia laughed.

Katya nodded, focusing on eating the mashed beans. It felt very, very good to eat something again, but she didn’t want to go too fast and risk throwing up. Easing her way back into eating would be best.

When she finished the bowl she looked up and noticed for the first time that she was alone in the room. “Where are Natalia and Raivis?” she asked.

“Natalia asked if she could sit outside,” Sofia motioned to the small door, and Katya noticed the weak sunlight that was coming through the nearest window. “I helped her out there this morning. I’ve moved Raivis to another room, just so his environment can be kept a bit quieter. That wound on his arm was turning nasty.”

“Infected?” Katya asked.

“Can’t tell for sure, but looks like the antiseptic has worked so far.”

Katya nodded and sat quietly for a while, thinking, while Sofia bustled around tidying. “Could I go outside?” she asked eventually.

“If you feel strong enough.” Sofia came over to the bed. “I personally believe fresh air can be very helpful, especially the clean air we have here, but it’s best to be sure you can handle it before you go.”

Katya nodded, determined. “Don’t worry. I can handle it.”

She was surprised what the rest and a little bit of food had done; she didn’t need to lean on Sofia as much as she expected, and she almost felt strong enough to walk on her own. They left through the door and into a small corridor, and then through another door into the open sunlight. The door led onto the remains of a patio, and Natalia was sitting on the edge of it with her feet dangling down into space. She looked round as Katya approached. She’d always found it hard to read her sister’s expressions, but she thought she looked relieved to see her. “I hope you don’t mind me intruding,” she said softly as she sat down. She smiled up at Sofia as she let go of the other woman’s hand, and she smiled back before silently leaving them.

“Glad to see you back on your feet,” Natalia said softly when they were alone.

“I tell people to stay in bed and rest when they’re sick all the time, but I can’t seem to apply the same to myself,” Katya laughed. “I find it so incredibly boring.”

“Hmm.” Natalia looked away, out over the view of hills and pine trees. The village must have been behind them, because here the only sign of human habitation was one small wooden cabin nestled just next to where the tree line started.

“Have you seen the village?” Katya asked.

Natalia shook her head. “I was barely able to make it out here. You look a lot stronger than me.”

Katya felt surprised for a moment, but then she realized Natalia must have used a lot of her strength being so stubborn on the boat. “Well, you have lots of time to rest and recuperate.”

Natalia looked at her sidelong. “Do we? You heard that guy at the beach. They might not want us here.” Natalia paused, and then said in a quieter voice, “We might not be safe here.”

Katya didn’t say anything for a while. She had heard the man at the beach; he hadn’t sounded that enthused about taking them in. She needed her family to be safe, to be secure – Natalia might have been her blood sister, but after what they had gone through, Raivis might as well have been their brother, and she would protect them both. She looked at Natalia’s thin wrists and frail fingers. She had gotten them through the boat; now she would get them through on land.

“Since he seems to be the one to ask, I’ll go and find him and settle things,” she said determinedly. That drew a look of surprise from Natalia, which changed to open alarm as Katya managed to haul herself into a standing position using a nearby chair.

“Kat, you haven’t recovered, you shouldn’t-”

“You ignored my warnings all through our boat journey, Nat, so forgive me if I ignore yours now,” Katya said, forcing the words out with some effort through her teeth. Natalia scowled, but Katya knew she couldn’t do anything; she didn’t have the strength to get up on her own.

Katya’s first few steps were wobbly, but she made it to a second chair and leant her weight on it. Natalia had turned to watch her with narrowed eyes. “Be careful,” she called over as Katya moved on from the chair. There was a thick stick lying on the ground near another chair; Katya clutched the wood of the backrest as she leant over and picked the stick up. It made a good walking stick and increased her speed as she walked around the side of the house and onward.

The village was spread out below her as she came around the house – or hospital, or whatever it was. There were a group of pre-Flood houses in various states of repair, gathered around a seemingly central point in which there was a large tree, almost like a central square. There were also many post-Flood style log cabins like the one they had been able to see from the patio, scattered around in a seemingly random order. The land fell away in a slope after the end of the houses, and Katya could see a circle of cliffs and the wide expanse of the ocean beyond.

The first person she came upon was tending a vegetable patch outside of one of the small log cabins. She looked up warily as Katya approached. She didn’t waste time with pleasantries, and just asked, “I need to see the leader of the settlement.”

The woman looked surprised, but she pointed downward, towards the tree. “Down there, in the main house. The biggest pre-Flood building. You’re looking for Alastair Kirkland.”

“Right. Thank you.” Katya could feel the woman’s eyes on her as she hobbled away down the hill. As she walked through the centre of the village more people stopped to look at her, but she ignored them all. She made her way slowly to the building the woman had indicated, and at a loss for anything else to do, knocked on the door.

There was a long pause before anything happened, and Katya wondered if she should knock again or just try the door and see if it opened. But then there was a crash and some muffled swearing from behind the door, and after another moment it opened to reveal the man she’d seen on the beach, dressed in a scruffy jacket and jeans with his red hair in wild disarray. He looked rather surprised to see her standing there. “Thought you were dying in the hospital,” he said, accent as thick as she remembered it.

“Thankfully I am in better health than you supposed.” She paused, and he didn’t say anything else or make another move. “Can I come in?” she asked after a few slightly awkward seconds.

He eyed her warily for a few moments before stepping back to let her pass.

The hallway was untidy, miscellaneous objects of all sorts piled up on the boxes stacked everywhere. “Is this some kind of storage…space?” Katya asked doubtfully.

“No, it’s my house.” Alastair moved past her to a door just down the corridor. “In here.”

She followed him into a small room that had two wooden benches with straw-stuffed cushions, a low table and a thin bed pushed into the corner. In the corner by the window, a table with an array of objects sat, including a slim black book and a ballpoint pen – objects so rare Katya had only seen them once or twice before.

“This is me,” Alastair said shortly, sitting down on one of the benches. She took the hint and sat on the other.

“You share the house?” she asked.

“My family does.”

“A big family, then.”

Alastair looked away, the frown on his brow deepening. “In a way, yeah.”

She wondered at that, but she didn’t like to press. They had only just met, after all. “I would start our conversation, but I honestly have no idea what you’ve come to talk about,” he said, interrupting her thoughts.

“My family,” she said, getting back to the matter at hand. “It was very generous of you to take us in, but I’d like to know where we stand.”

He was silent for a few moments, giving her a long, considering look. Taking her measure. She looked back at him unflinchingly. Eventually he said slowly, “Where would you like to stand?”

The question threw her a little. “I want to know if you’re going to throw us out,” she said, cutting through any potential word games.

At that he shook his head. “If we didn’t want you, we wouldn’t have treated you. Supplies are hard to come by around here.”

“I don’t want you to think we’re not grateful for your help-”

“I don’t.” He was looking at her intently now. “You’re trying to protect your family. I understand.”

She considered him, and it only took a moment to see that he was telling the truth. He had probably been in her position, worrying for the safety of those he loved. And he was the leader of the settlement. He was responsible for _everyone_ here.

“We’re not going to throw you out,” he said, “But we expect you to make a contribution to the settlement, once you’re all healed that is. We usually hand out what we have in rations, depending on what people need. In return, people take up jobs to help the settlement.”

“I have medical skills,” Katya said. “I’m good at cooking, too. And gardening. Nat is a great shot, and a good hunter. Raivis…um…”

Alastair waved one hand dismissively. “He’s a kid. He’ll get good at something in time. But someone else with medical skills will be a great help.” His lips curved in a small smile. “We’ve got a house free down by the cliff. It’s small, and no one’s lived in it for a while so it might need some fixing up. But it’d be yours.”

“I’d be happy to accept,” Katya smiled too, more openly than he did. “It’ll be good to be useful.”

“Make sure you’re healed first.” His voice was still gruff, but Katya thought she could hear the concern underneath.

“Sofia seems a competent nurse,” she said, her smile widening. “I don’t think she’ll let me go until she’s satisfied I’m better.”

“I can vouch for her competence, having needed her care more times than I’d like.” Katya thought she could detect humour in his tone, so she chuckled quietly. This seemed to be the right response, as another small smile appeared on his lips for a fleeting moment. Then he stood briskly. “I assume that’s all you needed?”

She nodded, also standing. “Thank you for clearing it up. I don’t want to take up any more of your time, so…”

He nodded. “I’ll show you out.”

She gave him a nod at the door, and began her way up the slope again. Going back up she was much slower than coming back down, and more people seemed to be around to stare. A few approached to ask if she needed help, but she brushed them off. She was determined to do it on her own, and besides, she wasn’t _that_ weak.

Sofia had a pinched, unhappy expression on her face when she made it through the door of the hospital. “Are you sure that wasn’t too much exertion?” she asked, tentatively raising a hand.

Katya shook her head, taking the hand and accepting Sofia’s unspoken offer of support as she walked back to her room. “It was tiring, but I can rest easier now I’ve done it.”

“I could have asked Alastair to come up here,” Sofia said, a faint note of protest still in her voice. Katya assumed Natalia had told her where she’d gone off to.

Katya shrugged as she sat down on her bed. “I felt better going down there. Getting it all cleared up, you know.” Sofia nodded. “He offered us a house down near the cliff, for when we’ve all recovered.”

Sofia’s expression became disapproving. “ _That_ old thing. It’ll keep the rain out, I suppose, but it’ll need work to be comfortable. I might have to keep you here longer if that’s where he intends to send you.”

“Or, since I’m healing faster, I’ll go ahead and start working on it,” Katya suggested gently.

Sofia tilted her head, considering. “Yes, that’s a good suggestion.” She turned and went to the door. “I have some soup,” she laughed quietly, “I’m just going to assume you’re hungry.”

“Very, thank you,” Katya said with a smile. Sofia disappeared, and she swung her legs up onto the bed, resigning herself to more rest. She wondered where Natalia was. Raivis was likely still in bed, but Nat might still be out on the patio. She sighed; the walk had taken more out of her than she’d supposed, and she didn’t feel like getting up again to investigate. Better to rest.

She ate the soup Sofia brought back for her and dozed for a while, alternating between drifting through meaningless trains of thought, her eyes closed, to watching a bar of light shift and change on the wall and floor with the position of the sun. It was near evening when there came a quiet knock on the door. “Come in,” she said softly.

Natalia poked her head around the door. She considered her for a few moments before saying, “I just wanted to check you were alright.”

Katya nodded. “No harm done. Have you been out on the patio for most of the day?”

Natalia nodded. “What did whats-his-name say?”

“We can stay. We can even have a house. He asked what we could do and I told him you’re a good hunter, I hope you don’t mind.”

Natalia shook her head. “No. If that’s what they want me to contribute. I don’t have many other talents, after all.” She retreated slightly, then paused. “It’s good news.”

Katya nodded, and Natalia gave her a brisk nod before disappearing again. Outside, the light was nearly gone, and Katya expected Sofia would be back soon with something for her dinner. She settled back against the pillows. Soon, she thought, she would be well, and then she would be able to begin a new life.

Here, hopefully, things would go better than before.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
